Alabama football director of strength and conditioning Scott Cochran could only be at the beginning of the 5k. Once the race started, he returned to his job because Alabama football had practice that afternoon.
His wife, Cissy Cochran, remained until the end of the race. She came up with the idea for the event name in the spring, taken from her husband’s trademark phrase.
Thomas Plott, the son of Blair and Bobby Plott, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was 10 months old.
Now he’s 6 years and spends as much time being a normal 6-year-old as he can. He plays football and baseball when he can. He’s also the best friend of Beau Cochran, the son of Scott and Cissy Cochran.
“He is your typical 6-year-old, gregarious, towheaded child,” Blair Plott said. “He just has a lot more things that he has to do in his daily routine.”
Cissy Cochran came up with the idea for the 5k while training for the New York marathon with Blair Plott. It took about six months for the 5k to come to fruition. Cissy Cochran said the event raised around $25,000.
“When she started, everybody said, ‘A race in August? Yeah, you’re only going to have 50 people,’ and she goes, ‘OK, we’ll see,’” Scott Cochran said. “So she’s worked really hard going and getting people to be out here, so we’re fired up.”
Despite the heat wave, she got nearly 600 people out to Government Plaza on Saturday.
“It’s just nice to have a platform to help people out,” Cissy Cochran said. “Scott does a lot of obviously helping out football players and athletes, and obviously with Nick’s Kids behind us as well, with Miss Terry [Saban] out here this morning, which was fantastic, it’s fun to be able to do something for somebody.”
Terry Saban said she felt the race spread positivity.
“I mentioned to Blair and Bobby [Plott] when they were raving about what great support it was, I said, ‘You know, every runner in here is probably receiving just as much as Thomas is receiving in feeling good about doing something positive for someone,’” Terry Saban said. “It’s kind of like karma, good karma: it spreads.”
“It is absolutely incredible and emotional to see this many people have turned out to help us with awareness and fundraising for cystic fibrosis,” Blair Plott said.
